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Peter Phillips, founder and Director of The Tallis Scholars, returns to conduct the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Singers in a programme celebrating the music of three figureheads of the renaissance period in their anniversary years.

The programme is bookended with two of the great settings of the Magnificat text from the period – in the 500th anniversary of his death, William Cornysh’s setting goes some way to explain why he is regarded as an early example of a true ‘Renaissance Artist’. Also a poet, dramatist and actor, Cornyish was also held the prestigious position of Master of the Children at the Chapel Royal, and his setting of the Magnificat with its high treble lines is as good an indication as any of the brilliant singers he produced.

William Byrd, who died 100 years after Cornysh is celebrated with a variety of pieces including the penitential motet for double choir, Ne Irascaris Domine; originally published in the 1589 Cantiones Sacrae and inspired by the fate of the Catholic Church in England at the Time.

Thomas Weelkes died in the same year as Byrd, and wrote more services for the Anglican church that any other composer of the age. His musical contribution to the landscape of the time are marked with two anthems written for the church’s year.